Mark as part of a cross-party group of MPs from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland has united behind local government and businesses to call for the creation of a Freeport in the East Midlands.
The group have been working alongside the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership to develop and promote the bid, which has the potential to generate 60,000 new skilled jobs for the region and become the beating heart of the UK’s clean growth ambition.
Mark along with other MPs have worked together to create a video which accompanies the bid.
The bid centres on three main sites:
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The East Midlands Airport Gateway and Industrial Cluster (EMAGIC), located around the UK’s largest freight airport at East Midlands Airport.
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Uniper’s site at Ratcliffe on Soar, where the existing coal-fired power station will be decommissioned and replaced with a zero-carbon technology and energy hub.
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The East Midlands Intermodal Park (EMIP), which will become a next-generation, rail-connected business park with links to the rest of the country and beyond.
An East Midlands Freeport would enjoy the unique intersection of air, rail and road connectivity, with excellent links to major deep-sea ports elsewhere in the country. If successful, the bid will play a key role in the levelling-up of the region, with the economic, environmental and employment benefits shared far beyond the freeport site.
With the future ambition of the Development Corporation to lead growth and regeneration in the region, ‘Made in the East Midlands’ can become the hallmark of advanced manufacturing and green technology for decades to come.
Mark Fletcher, MP for Bolsover said:
“The East Midlands Freeport bid is a superb collaboration, bringing together local economic and Parliamentary stakeholders to champion a better economic future for our region. I have been campaigning for more skilled jobs in Bolsover and our region, and our Freeport bid is a huge step in the right direction.”
